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Jacob's dream is the most crucial point in the whole book of Genesis (Gen. 28:10-22). Not even Gen. 1:26 is as crucial as Jacob's dream in chapter twenty-eight. One of the most striking aspects of this dream is the stone. After traveling on a long journey, Jacob, being tired and lonesome, took a stone, made it his pillow, and slept in the open air. This might have been the first time in history that a man used a stone for a pillow. Have you ever laid your head upon a stone for rest? I have never done this. Firstly, Jacob made that stone a pillow; secondly, he set it up for a pillar (28:18). A pillow is for resting and a pillar is for building. Do you realize that one day your pillow will become a pillar? Later we shall see what this pillow is. In 28:22 Jacob said, "This stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God's house." In addition to the stone, the pillar, and the house, there was the oil poured upon the top of the stone (28:18). How could Jacob, a lonesome wanderer, have had oil with him? I do not know. Nevertheless, early in the morning, he poured oil upon the stone. Hence, in this dream there are four basic elements: the stone, the pillar, the house, and the oil. These four items are the basic factors with which the Bible is composed.
As we have mentioned several times, God's intention is to make man His corporate expression. In the book of Genesis we cannot see that God obtained such an expression. In 1:26, a declaration of God's purpose in making man, we are told that man was made in the image of God. But here we do not see that God gained His expression. God did not have His expression with Adam, Abel, Enosh, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, or Isaac. As we come to Jacob, we see that he was a supplanter, a heel-holder, a very crafty young man. Under the light of the whole Bible, we know that this young supplanter was chosen by God and was predestinated to have the birthright. Before the foundation of the world, in eternity past, God predestinated him to have the birthright. As we have pointed out, the birthright includes three things: expressing God as priests, representing Him as kings, and inheriting God's inheritance as heirs. This birthright is absolutely for the corporate expression of God on earth. The events in Genesis 28 occurred approximately twenty-two centuries after the creation of man. God called Abraham approximately two thousand years after the creation of Adam, and the period of time from Abraham until Jacob was about two hundred years. During this long period of time, God did not obtain what He desired.
While Jacob, the young supplanter who had gotten into trouble due to his supplanting, was on his lonesome journey, he had a dream. What Jacob saw was a dream; it was not yet a fact, because Jacob was still a supplanter. Deep within, he was probably still holding on to Esau's heel. How could such a supplanter be the house of God? It was impossible. Hence, at that time, Jacob's dream was only a dream. For example, although it is impossible for us to land on the moon right now, we may dream that we have landed on the moon. This may be a dream, but it is not a fact. We need to have dreams in our spiritual life. I have had a number of dreams in the past and I would like to have another one today. If you have had no dreams since you were saved, your situation must be most pitiful. How many dreams have you had since you were saved? Every spiritual vision is a dream.
What is the significance of a dream? The principle of a dream is that in it something impossible happens to you. Our being saved was a dream, the initial dream in our spiritual life. Although getting saved was an impossibility, we have been saved. Coming into the church life was also a spiritual dream. Everyone who has come into the church life has had a dream in which something impossible took place. I like these heavenly dreams.
As we have seen in Jacob's heavenly dream four things were revealed: the stone, the pillar, the house, and the oil. These four things are rarely found before Genesis 28. For instance, apart from the onyx stone in Gen. 2:12 no stone is mentioned in the foregoing twenty-seven and a half chapters. However, we do find mention of the bricks used for building the devilish city and demonic tower of Babel (Gen. 11:3). When we were studying chapter eleven, we pointed out that bricks signify human work, the issue of human effort with clay. Every religion is represented by bricks, for every religion is a human effort with clay. Mankind is clay, and religion works upon mankind to produce bricks. No pillar is mentioned before Genesis twenty-eight. When the Bible speaks of the city and tower of Babel, no pillars are mentioned. Do not think that the Bible is common. It is not common; rather, it is unique. In the temple constructed by Solomon there were two great pillars (1 Kings 7:21). In Galatians 2:9 we are told that Peter, James, and John were pillars of the church. Moreover, in Revelation 3:12 we see that the overcomers will be built as pillars into the temple of God. Like the pillar, neither the house nor the oil is mentioned prior to chapter twenty-eight. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob all lived in tents. But after having his dream at Bethel, Jacob did not speak of a tent; he spoke of God's house.
As we have pointed out elsewhere, in the Bible a stone is mainly for God's building. When Peter first came to the Lord, the Lord changed his name from Simon to Cephas (John 1:42), saying, "You are Simon the son of John; you shall be called Cephas (which translated means a stone)." Approximately three years later, the Lord questioned His disciples, saying, "Who do men say that the Son of Man is?" (Matt. 16:13). After Peter said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God," the Lord Jesus said to him, "I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church" (Matt. 16:18). In saying this, the Lord reminded Peter of what He had done three years ago in changing his name from Simon to Cephas. Later, in writing his first Epistle, Peter said, "You yourselves also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house" (1 Pet. 2:5). In this one verse Peter mentions both the stone and the house. In 1 Corinthians 3 Paul held a similar concept, telling the believers at Corinth that they were God's building (1 Cor. 3:9). In 1 Corinthians 3:10 Paul tells us to take heed how we build. We must be careful of how and with what we build, for our work will be tested by fire. If we build with gold, silver, and precious stones, our work will remain. So we see, that in 1 Corinthians 3 Paul also speaks of stone for God's building. As we come to the book of Revelation, the ultimate end of the Bible, we see a city built up with precious stones. According to the principle of the Bible, a city is always the enlargement of a house. When a house is immensely enlarged, it becomes a city. There will be no temple in the New Jerusalem because the temple will have been enlarged into a city. That city will be an enlarged house built with precious stones. How consistent is the Bible! By all these portions of the Word, we see that stone is the material for the building of God's house.
What is God's house? God's house is simply God's satisfaction, rest, and expression. The kind of house you live in expresses the kind of person you are. If you are a dirty person, you will have a dirty house, and if you are a clean person, you will have a clean house. Ten years ago I was taken to the so-called hippie section of San Francisco. I could not believe that people could live in such a filthy environment. Although I did not see any hippies at that time, I could tell by the condition of their lodgings that they were dirty, sloppy people. Our house is our expression. If you visit a house in which a Japanese family lives, you will know, simply by walking through it, that it is inhabited by Japanese. The same is true of the lodging of a Scot. In like manner, God's house is His expression. Eventually, His house will be enlarged into a city, and that city will have the same appearance as God. According to Revelation 4:2 and 3, God has the appearance of jasper, and according to Revelation 21:11, the whole city of New Jerusalem will also have the appearance of jasper. This means that the city will have God's appearance and be His expression. We may even say that this city will be God's enlargement.
Although the stone and the house are most crucial, there is still the need of the oil. In typology, oil signifies God reaching man. God is triune. The Father is the source, the Son is the course, and the Spirit is the flow reaching us. Jacob's pouring oil upon the stone signifies the Triune God flowing to reach man. God is in heaven, but He has been poured out upon man. When the Triune God reaches man, He makes man the house of God. Before the oil was poured upon the stone, the stone was merely a stone. But after the oil had been poured upon it, the stone became the house of God.
In Genesis 28, Jacob was in a homeless and restless situation (v. 10). When man is homeless, God also is homeless (Isa. 66:1). Thus, in Genesis 28, both Jacob and God were homeless. In like manner, when man is thirsty, God also is thirsty, and when man is unsatisfied, God also is unsatisfied. When the Lord Jesus came to the well of Sychar (John 4), He was thirsty, and a thirsty woman came to Him. Both the Samaritan woman and the Lord Jesus were thirsty. When man is homeless and restless, God is also homeless and restless. Genesis 28 is a picture showing that both God and man were homeless. What is man's real home? For eternity, man's home will be God. If you do not have God, you do not have a home. No unsaved person can ever feel at home, for man's real home is God. What is God's home? Man. Man's home is God, and God's home is man. Whenever man is separated from God, both God and man are homeless. For example, a divorce always affects both the husband and the wife. We cannot say that the wife is divorced and that the husband is not. Thus, when man is homeless, God is made homeless, but when we are at home, God also has a home. When we have God as our home, we become God's home. That night in Genesis 28, Jacob was separated from God, and both he and God were homeless. Since Jacob was homeless, he was also restless. A homeless person is a restless person. Home is sweet because it is restful. Many times after I have completed a long journey, upon returning home, I have said, "Praise the Lord, I'm home!" This means that I can rest. But that night Jacob and God were homeless and without rest.
We have seen that Jacob took a stone and made it his pillow. For years I could not understand the significance of this. Although we cannot understand it according to the outward word, we can understand it according to our inward experience. Before we were saved, we had no rest. We always felt that we were either in the air or in the bottom of the sea. We had nothing solid to hold, support, or sustain us. Although you might have been a millionaire, your money could not support you. Rather, it deprived you of peace and rest. Whether we were old or young, male or female, before we were saved, we had no solid support. But one day we were saved and something happened deep within us. What we experienced deep within produced something which became our solid support. After being saved we might have had troubles. Nevertheless, deep within, we had the assurance that there was a solid rock upon which we could rest. This solid rock is the very nature, the very element of Christ, which has been wrought into our being.
As men, we were made from the dust of the ground (2:7). Romans 9 indicates that we are vessels of clay, not of stone. If I had been Jacob, I would have made a pile of clay and rested upon it. In God's eyes, however, clay can never be our rest. Our human life, our natural human life and being, cannot be our rest. It does not matter how well educated we are nor what position we have. As long as we do not have the divine nature within us, we are merely clay. This clay cannot be our solid support. None of us found rest until we were saved. On that day, something divine, something of Christ, was wrought into us and became the solid support within us. This is our rest, our pillow. Our pillow is the divine element, the very Christ, which has been wrought into our being. As we were taking our human journey, we suddenly had a dream in which Christ Himself was wrought into us. Christ's nature is the rock which has been wrought into our nature of clay. Hence, we have a rock upon which we can lay our head.
Often unbelievers have said of Christians, "I have noticed that in times of trouble you have peace within. Why don't I have it?" The reason unbelievers do not have peace is because they do not have the divine element in them. They only have the clay of the fallen human element. If you would know how poor clay is, pour water on it. After a short time, it will become muddy. But the more you pour water upon a stone, the cleaner and brighter it becomes. Let the troubles come. They are water that washes. Every trouble which a Christian undergoes is like cleansing water. I thank God that I have been cleansed by troubles many times. Be prepared to be cleansed. Since the day we were saved, we have had a stone upon which we can lay our head. Now, however deep and dark is the night, we can rest our head upon this stone. I doubt that there is another Christian writing which says that the stone in Genesis 28 signifies the very divine element which has been wrought into our being to become the pillow for our human life. Non-believers do not have this pillow. Their pillow is the poor clay of human nature. But our pillow is a stone, the divine element, Christ Himself, which has been wrought into us. The more difficulties we have, the more we need this pillow. Seemingly, a stone is not restful. But according to our experience, it affords us a solid rest. This stone is not the objective Christ, the Christ far away from us; it is the Christ who has been wrought into our being, the subjective Christ on whom we may lay our head. This is the Christ who becomes our experience, the One whose divine element has been wrought into us. This Christ is the pillow of our human life. Praise the Lord for this pillow!
After having the dream, Jacob set up the stone for a pillar (28:18). The stone upon which we lay our head must become building material. Before coming into the church life, we could not understand this. But now, having come into the church, we realize that the very stone upon which we lay our head for rest must become a pillar, that is, the stone must become the material for God's building. Praise the Lord that we have been saved and are at rest. But what about God's rest? He cannot have rest until the stone upon which we rest our head has been set up to be a pillar for His building. God will not set up this pillar — we must do it. Our pillow must be set up to be a pillar. In other words, our experience of Christ must become a pillar.
I do not believe that, apart from us, any Christians know that their experience of Christ must be set up as a pillar. Before we came into the church life, we did not set up a pillar. But after coming into the church life, day by day we are setting up our experience of Christ to be a pillar. It is no longer just a pillow but a pillar. It is not only a matter of our rest; it is a matter of God's building for His rest. Is the very Christ whom you have experienced merely your rest, or is He the building material for God's house? The answer can be proved by our experience. Firstly, we laid our heads upon Christ and found rest. Eventually, we turned our experience of Christ into a pillar, into the material for God's building. Whatever we have experienced of Christ must become the material for the building of God's house. In other words, what has been our pillow must become a pillar. What do you have today — a pillow or a pillar?
There is no building among most Christians because, at best, they have only a pillow, not a pillar. Before we came into the church life, we also had only a pillow for our rest. But a short while after coming into the church, we set up our experience of Christ as a pillar, turning it into worthy material for God's house. Forty-five years ago, my pillow stood up to become a pillar. It was no longer merely a pillow under my head; it was a pillar for the building of God's house. While a pillow is good for our rest, God needs a house in which to rest. How can this house be built? Only by our pillow becoming a pillar. Firstly we have the stone, then we have the building.
Jacob not only set up the stone as a pillar; he also poured oil upon it (28:18). Many Christians talk about the baptism of the Holy Spirit. There is no need to talk very much about it. As long as you set up your pillow to become a pillar, the oil will be poured upon it. What an experience of oil we have had since we came into the church life and our pillow stood up to become a pillar! What an experience of the Holy Spirit! I can testify that when I say, "Pillow, stand up," I experience the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. I have experienced the baptism of the Holy Spirit many times. When your pillow stands up, the oil will be poured out. I do not say this in vain. This can be proved by our experience. When we say, "Lord Jesus, I love You," we may be somewhat excited. But when we go further and say, "Lord Jesus, I love Your church," we are so excited that we can hardly contain ourselves. Some Christians condemn us, saying that we make the church more important than Christ. Why do we talk so much about the church? Because the more we talk about it, the more excited we become. All Americans love desserts, such as ice cream, pie, and cake. The church life is like a dessert. If you only have Christ without the church, your meal may be like a few slices of Jewish bread. It is solid, but it is not dessert. The church life is the best dessert, a dessert which is even larger than the meal. This is why the church people like to say, "Amen, Lord. I love You and I love the church. I'm for Christ and the church. I consecrate myself to Christ and the church." When the pillow is set up to be a pillar, it is fully baptized. This is the genuine baptism of the Holy Spirit. In John 1 we also have the baptism, the stone, and Jacob's dream (vv. 33, 42, 51).
After the oil was poured upon the pillar, the pillar became the house of God. The issue of saying, "Lord Jesus, I love You and I love the church," is the house. Before we came into the church, we were individualistic. But since coming into the church and testifying how much we love the church, we find that whenever we are individualistic, we lose the dessert. Instead of dessert, we have bitter medicine. Whenever you enjoy the wonderful church life, you have dessert every day. But whenever you are the slightest bit individualistic, you begin to taste the bitter medicine. There is not even the need to be individualistic. Even if you say that you don't like a certain brother, you will sense a bitter taste. If you say, "The church life is wonderful, but I don't like that sister," there will be no dessert. At times, we have sugar-coated medicine. After a while, however, the sugar coat melts and we taste the bitterness.
The genuine experience of Christ becomes the building material, and this building material consummates in the building of the house of God. Here God has rest and satisfaction, and here we also have rest and satisfaction. Jacob's dream was first fulfilled when the children of Israel erected the tabernacle after being delivered out of Egypt. That was the first house of God among men, the first fulfillment of Jacob's dream. The tabernacle indicated that God and man had found rest, that God's dwelling place on earth was the satisfaction and rest for both God and man. After the children of Israel had constructed the temple in the good land, God had a more solid house on earth. Then, in the New Testament, we have the church as the house of God (1 Tim. 3:15). Eventually, in the new heaven and the new earth, we shall have the New Jerusalem as God's eternal dwelling place (Rev. 21:1-3). There God and we shall have eternal rest and enjoy eternal satisfaction. Today we are all in the fulfillment of Jacob's dream. We not only have the stone and the pillar; we also have the house. In fact, we are the house (Heb. 3:6). This house is the composition of divinity with humanity, the composition of the Triune God with human beings. Here we have the house which becomes the rest for both God and man. Now we are not only in the dream but also in the fulfillment of the dream. Thank the Lord for the stone, the pillar, the house, and the oil. In the church life we experience all four of these.
